With Harp 2.0 starting to become available now to homeowners across the country and the state of Florida this month, mortgage volume is seeing a nice spike.

Right now it is mainly the loans held by Freddie Mac and not Fannie Mae that have the unlimited LTV’s that are the hallmark of this newest version of the HARP program. When the Fannie loans become eligible next month we should see another spike higher in loan volume. All hands on deck for the mortgage origination companies!

HARP 2.0 Helping to spike volume

It was a holiday shortened day in the Mortgage Bond Market on Friday.  The week was a stellar one as the stock market was hammered pretty good due to the trouble in Europe.  As we get ready for HARP 2.0 this coming December, Ben B is juicing the mortgage market in a major way.  Go Big or Go Home seems to be the thought process for the time being.  Get your Refi on!

MBS Market near best prices at the end of the week

As we get ready for game 1 of our Thanksgiving Football Feast, the business of Detroit comes into focus. How many car commercials we see and how many US workers are happy today they have a job! It all started in Detroit!

Go Lions, derail the Packers today, I know you can.

I am a big follower of ECRI and I find their stuff right on much more often then most prognosticators.

Looks like the stock surge this week as expected is causing a sell off in the MBS market and thus causing a back up in mortgage rates.  They are still close to record lows but if the stock market starts and end of the year ramp job we may have seen the lows for mortgage rates in the short term.

Mortgage rates heading higher?

Gold is on the march higher again.  What can stop this run?  I tend to see only a stronger dollar as the key towards stopping this huge run we have witnessed this year.  Why is my mortgage blog so focused on this historic Gold Run?  It is because I have been a strong advocate of the yellow metal for so long and now it is like watching a giant train wreck in front of our eyes play out each and every day.  As nation after nation debased their currencies the purchasing power of those without hard assets like Gold are suffering.

Gold runs higher

This week we saw another leg up in the Gold Market as the yellow metal broke above and settled the week comfortably above the $1,600 per ounce mark.  It ended the week very strongly as the clowns in Washington continued to look like they would rather see the country default on its obligation rather than stop the imminent downgrade of our US Government Debt.  Even if we get an agreement, the Us dollar will continue to fall and Gold will continue to represent the greatest opportunity to protect us from the goings on in our nations capitol.

another record price for Gold

Looking at the back up in rates this week one would normally ask is the recent rate rally over? I think that we are going to see lower rates from here based on continued weakness in the economy. Friday’s employment report from the BLS was a train wreck! If the budget deal gets done this week, stocks should soar but I am not sure even a rising stock market will keep bonds from heading higher and rates lower.

Rate rally hits the pause button

Part 2 Jim talks about demise of US Dollar and lack of possibility of paying off our debt.

Part 1 is a focus on Asia and Farming.